Romantic Yume
by jaderaid
Summary: one-shot mini-sequel to "Raikiri no Yume" ... "Let them look at you however they want, let them think whatever they want,” his voice softened, and he reached to gently brush away her tear, “but you can’t fool my eyes.” NejixTenten


**A/N: This is a mini-sequel to my work **_**Raikiri no Yume**_**; I've tried to make it so it's unnecessary to read RnY, but I'd recommend reading that first before this. As I wrote RnY in mostly Tenten's point of view, I wanted to play around with Neji's PoV a little... so I'll warn you right now, I'm going to be a little ADD with my PoV's and switch without any warning whatsoever because I'm still trying to get a handle on third-person omniscient versus third-person limited (which is my main style... omniscient is HARD for me).**

**This directly follows the epilogue of **_**Raikiri no Yume**_**, which takes place a few months prior to **_**Naruto: Shippuuden**_**. No spoilers but those from my own previous fanfiction.**

_Romantic Yume_

_Jade Rhade_

._begin_.

Hyuuga Neji palmed a small sphere in his right hand and slipped it into his pocket as he made his way down one of Konohagakure's many bustling thoroughfares, stepping with the steady stride and easy balance benefiting one of the Hidden Village's premier _shinobi_. Long cream-colored Hyuuga robes flapping behind him, his quick pace led him past the countless shops with their eagerly hawking vendors and mindlessly chattering crowds until he turned onto a more secluded and peaceful avenue, a simple path of tree-lined dirt marked by a sign reading _Konoha Hospital_. He stopped and stared up at the building before him, the large white edifice a stark contrast to the wreathe of fast-turning orange and red leaves fluttering occasionally to the ground with the softest cool breeze.

The winter of the Land of Lightning was the autumn of the Land of Fire; the land he had only recently returned from was already in the throes of another harsh winter, while the only hint of impending snow here in Konohagakure was the rare chill wind. His pearl-hued eyes wandered across the many curtained windows as he moved forward again until he pushed open one of the large swinging doors and entered the reception area. This place was unfortunately all too familiar to him, as it was to any dedicated _shinobi_; though the saying may be "the more thou sweats in training, the less thou bleeds in combat," the fact remained that the hospital received the majority of its business from injured ninja, whether it be from training or combat.

The latter was the case for the only female member of Team Gai, currently trapped within these emotionless white walls and likely fuming from the lack of activity. Neji knew this as surely as he knew his own name, and he garnered more than one odd look from passing doctors, patients, and fellow visitors as he laughed quietly to himself, imagining the hell Tenten would be raising with the nurses who would refuse her the option of going home so soon. He himself had only just barely managed to escape the hawk-like talons of the nurses, young ladies concerned that he was too stupid to frequently change the bandages on his right arm, wrapped around the deep wounds caused by embedded _shuriken_ (to which he'd dryly responded that if he were that much of an idiot, maybe next time he should try blocking enemy weapons with his head and put himself out of his misery... they hadn't been amused).

With these thoughts in mind, the sight that greeted him as he poked his head into her hospital room was not what he expected. Neji paused and leaned against the doorframe, studying the scene before him with more than a little concern. "Tenten?"

Sullenly she sat, facing forward, her knees drawn into her chest under the thin sheets. "They won't let me out," was all she said in way of greeting, not even turning to acknowledge his presence.

Neji's eyebrows furrowed and he took a seat beside her on the edge of her bed, studying her face carefully. "I thought the wound would have healed by now." The look in his eyes made it a question as his gaze flicked downward to the deep stab she had received on the same mission.

Her lips twitched unhappily, and a hand flew to her stomach. "It is."

He waited for her to elaborate.

She didn't.

She didn't tell him how the doctors whispered whenever they spoke of her, didn't tell him about the hushed tones with which they discussed her mental collapse and resulting actions, didn't tell him how they feared she would fall into wrath again and turn her power against the village.

She didn't tell him about the blood she still saw staining her hands when the lights went out and the moon glared down at her as sole witness.

She didn't have to tell him any of that. He already knew, discerned from the tiniest twitches of her mouth and the lines creasing her face. "I'll talk to them," he said finally, rising to his feet. Awkwardly, he squeezed her shoulder and left. Waiting just outside a door was one of those nurses, her clipboard clutched to her chest and her posture indicating that she'd been about to interrupt.

"Ah, H-hyuuga-_sama_," she stuttered, eyes widening at the sight of his _Kekkei Genkai_. "Please, visiting this patient is restricted to family members only."

His fists clenched. "My team is as much her family as her parents," he stated calmly in spite of mounting anger. "I demand the right to know why, if she is healed, Tenten can't go home." As a member of the noblest clan in Konohagakure, the weight of his gaze pressed down on the young woman. He hated taking advantage of the rank of the family he despised, but for Tenten's sake, it was only a minor twinge of guilt.

The nurse swallowed hard. "I don't know," she said lamely. "You would have to speak to her doctor."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "Would you be so kind as to fetch this doctor?" he requested, falling into that tone he assumed into so easily, the voice of arrogant command inherited by every Hyuuga (with the exception of Hinata-_sama_, he was forced to mentally add).

Nodding quickly, she turned heel and all but fled. Neji pressed one hand to his eyes and sighed, the other unconsciously slipping into his pocket to grasp the small object. At the sound of approaching footsteps, his head snapped up. This man coming now, wearing the harried expression that seemed universal to all doctors pulled away from their patients, would not be intimidated by the Hyuuga name.

"What seems to be the problem here?" the doctor snapped angrily. "I have-"

Neji raised his hands to silence the other man. "Please _sensei_, I understand you have important business to attend to. I just need to know why my friend can't go home when she's no longer wounded."

The doctor's eyes narrowed as he looked past him to see the name listed beneath the room number, and his gaze softened. "Ah, Tenten-_san_, is it?" He slipped his hands into his pockets. "Please, come with me."

It was Neji's turned for narrowed, suspicious eyes, but he followed the doctor some ways away into one of the tiny kitchens of this floor; the kind possessed of little more than a sink and refrigerator, perhaps some crackers or other small foods stuffed in the back of cupboards if one were lucky.

"You are aware of Tenten-_san_'s current mental state, yes?"

"I was under the impression that she had recovered. I was with her." Arms crossed, Neji leaned against the utilitarian metal sink.

The doctor sighed and looked away, mirroring Neji's pose. "You would be Hyuuga Neji-_san_ then, yes?" Waiting for his nod of assent, the doctor sighed again. "Afflictions of the mind are difficult to understand, even for us," he admitted. "To keep her from hurting anyone, we've deemed it best to keep her under surveillance for at least another week, maybe two."

Neji pushed off the sink angrily, eyes flashing. "How dare you think she would-!"

"Hurting others... or herself." Unafraid, the doctor didn't acknowledge his unspoken threat. "Hokage-_sama _has already been informed of the circumstances, and she's agreed to remove Tenten-_san_ from missions for the time being."

A crazy idea struck him then, something that he would never before have contemplated and would have made no sense in any other situation, but- "What if I let her stay with me?" he blurted.

"Excuse me?"

"Staying in the hospital won't help her recover faster; it's an oppressing feeling. If I promise to keep an eye on her, would you permit her to stay with me?" Sweat prickled on his palms, Neji held his breath, waiting for an answer.

"This is highly irregular; you know that, right? You're what, seventeen, and expect to take care of someone with a troubled mind?" The doctor scratched his head, but he hadn't said no. "However, I've heard it said that children with _shinobi_ training mature faster than other children; in fact, it's been biologically proven that the intensity of training with Chakra matures the body and mind." His gaze met Neji's unflinchingly. "You would be responsible for anything that happens- and I mean _anything_."

"I understand."

"I wonder..." the doctor muttered, so softly that any who hadn't trained to hear the unheard would have missed it. As it was, Neji only frowned and pretended he hadn't. "Come with me," he said louder, jerking his head toward the door. "I'm going to check on the patient, then you'll have some forms to fill out."

"I understand." Neji inclined his head respectfully, containing his rising excitement behind his ever-present mask of indifference. "And thank you, _sensei_."

"Don't mention it. I mean that." Neji was struck by the intensity in the doctor's blue eyes as he managed what few dared to try; meet the gaze of a Hyuuga. "Anything she does or anything that happens to her will be your responsibility. I want you to realize that." The white-clad man exited the room without another word.

Swept along in his wake, Neji could only follow silently. He said nothing as the doctor entered the room, his personality completely shifting to that of a comforting doctor concerned for his patient. "Tenten-_san_, how are you feeling today?" he asked absently, checking the clipboard left by the nurse on the desk against the wall. "Better?"

Tenten glared at him. "If I am, can I go?" she demanded. "I have training to get to."

"Actually, yes, you can."

Taken aback, she rested her head against her pillows with a triumphant smile. "About time."

"However," one finger rose to make a point. "You can't be permitted to stay on your own yet."

"_What?_" Her fingernails dug into the sheets as she gritted her teeth, glare returning a hundredfold. "Where do you expect me to go?"

He closed his eyes and smiled. "Neji-_san_ here has kindly agreed to keep an eye on you. If it's all right with you, you can stay with him."

Her eyebrow twitched, head turning slowly to regard her teammate leaning silently against the doorframe with his arms crossed. "Is that okay?"

Without looking, Neji shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me," he lied. (Lied? Why? It shouldn't matter, so then why was he so...?)

She was silent for a moment, then nodded slowly. "If it's okay with you, then fine. Anything to get out of this place."

"All right." The smallest of smiles crossed his face. "Get all your things together while I'm filling out these forms; I'll meet you at the check-out desk."

-xXx-

"Are you sure this is really okay?" Tenten bit her lip and looked around nervously, arms crossed over her chest as she walked beside her partner.

Neji simply hefted her bag higher on his shoulder and shrugged indifferently. "Why wouldn't it be?"

She resisted the urge to smack her palm against her forehead. "Think about how this looks for a second. There are going to be rumors."

"About what?"

"The fact that I only moved out of my parents' house a few months ago, and now it looks like I'm moving in with you."

He stumbled over a rock in the road. "What?" Neji coughed and regarded her incredulously.

"I'm just saying that people are going to talk." A grin brightened her face at the blush darkening his cheeks.

"Who cares?" Composure returning, he resumed his pace toward the branch family's section of the Hyuuga compound. "Let them talk."

"As long as you're not concerned..." Grin turning wicked, she slipped her hand into his, feeling him tense with surprise. "Let's give them something to talk about."

"I thought you just said you didn't want-"

Tenten burst into laughter at his confusion and withdrew her hand, covering her mouth to stifle her giggles. "You're so funny," she managed through her fingers, brown eyes sparkling in the late afternoon sun. "You think you're so serious, and then-" she took one look at his face and dissolved into giggles again, just grinning at him.

"Hmph." Neji pointedly looked away, refusing to respond to her goading. "Maybe I'll just send you back to the hospital."

The giggles stopped instantly. "That's not funny." She smacked his arm (in the same spot she'd smacked him before when he'd insisted upon carrying her bag... ow), then laughed again. "I'd just go stay with Lee."

"Would you rather do that?"

"Huh?"

"Stay with Lee," he echoed, stopping and turning to her, pearl eyes tinged orange from the slowly setting sun. "Would you rather do that?"

"It's a moot point anyway; he and Gai-_sensei_ are on a mission."

"That's dodging the question."

"Does it really matter?" She glanced up at him, confusion coloring her face.

Neji started walking again. "No, not really." (Lying again?)

Thankfully, none of the other members of the Hyuuga clan seemed to be outside as he led her through the maze of beautifully designed buildings until he came to the one he called his own. "My father and I lived here," he stated, pointing it out to her.

Tenten realized that this was the first time she'd been here, and swallowed hard, previous misgivings returning. "You're sure no one will mind? I don't want you to get in trouble because of me."

"I don't care." He threw her bag over the railing lining the polished wood along the house and jumped over after it. It was like a sidewalk made of wood; that was the best way she could describe it as she ascended the stairs, cautiously removing her shoes and following him inside.

Neji closed the sliding door behind her with a sharp crack that made her jump. (Why so nervous?) Waiting for her eyes to adjust to the sudden dimness, she cast her gaze around the entryway. "It's really nice," she managed, awestruck. "You clan kids have it good." The only illumination emanated from a large window set into the same wall as the door, covered by closed cloth curtains. The house had the smell of a building that had been unoccupied for some time combined with that uniquely Neji smell. The bare hardwood floor shone with the luster of polished expensive dark wood.

He shrugged uncomfortably and kicked off his own shoes, laying them carefully to the side of the door and extending his hand for hers. "It's just a branch family house," he muttered awkwardly. "You don't have to work hard to praise it."

"No, really." She ran a hand along the polished mahogany wall, rubbing a toe against the grain of the hardwood floor. "You should see my apartment."

"Why did you move out?"

Her lips twitched. "After I became a _Chuunin_, it just became easier to be able to leave whenever I wanted to instead of having to conform to my parents' schedule. I still see them a lot, so it's not like we had a falling out or something. I'm just not a kid anymore."

"I see."

She shook her head and grinned, dismissing the conversation. "Come on, show me around! This'll be like a vacation for me."

"Vacation?" he repeated incredulously, unable to reconcile this Tenten with the broken girl in the hospital bed.

"Yeah- I don't have to do any cleaning or anything."

"Oh really?" He shook his head and smiled; what of it? Her enthusiasm was infectious. "Then to start, this is the training room for when the weather's bad."

"I thought it was a living room." Tenten followed him across the meticulously clean floor, noting a couch pushed up against the wall, another pushed against the wall perpendicular to it, and not much else.

"I moved the television into my room a long time ago," he explained, "so this room is really just a big waste of space because there's only one person here."

Tenten marveled at his voice; not a trace of the bitterness she knew would have been plaguing him only a few years ago could be heard.

Noticing her smile, he paused. "What?"

"Nothing," she shook her head and covered her mouth to hide the smile. "For some reason I'm not surprised by how clean it is."

Again, he shrugged and moved on through the house, turning right down a hallway. "This is the kitchen."

"Obviously." It was relatively small, but possessed of all the normal kitchen things. A small, square table rested against the wall closest to the entryway, opposite a large window with the curtains drawn.

Going back into the hall, he pointed down to the left toward a closed door. "That is my father's room."

This time, she said nothing and only nodded silently, noting how he referred to it in the present tense; she had the feeling if Hyuuga Hizashi were to rise from the dead, he'd find his bedroom in the exact same condition it had been in when he died. "So that one is yours?" Tenten pointed to the slightly open door at the opposite end of the corridor.

"Yes. There's a bathroom in it; you can use it whenever you want."

Tenten tugged her bag from his hand and headed back into the living room/training area. "I'm okay for now. Can I sleep on this couch?"

"Absolutely not!"

Wide eyed, she wondered if she'd offended him with the suggestion. (Did only his father used to sit on that couch?)

"_I_ sleep on the couch," he stated calmly. "_You_ will sleep in my room."

"The hell I'm going to kick you out of your room!" she crossly protested. "Unless you want to sleep in there _with me_, then I'll be on the couch."

Mouth open, he almost reflexively agreed to the suggestion (avoided Freudian slip, there); luckily, Tenten had already turned away and dropped her bag. "I'm hungry," she announced, hands on her hips. "I'm going to make dinner."

"You're going to what?" (Is there no limit to his incredulity?)

"As a rule, men cannot cook," she wagged a finger in his face. "So therefore, I will be cooking."

"But-"

Tenten rested her finger against his lips to silence him. "Consider it my way of saying thank you."

His breath caught in his throat at her touch, and he looked away quickly. "Fine, but there's not going to be much in the kitchen to work with," he muttered. "I threw out all the perishable stuff before the mission."

"I'll make do." She veritably bounced into the kitchen, leaving Neji standing alone in the middle of the floor.

"Damn you," he whispered, watching her go with a smile. No other _kunoichi_ could ruin his focus with a grin or inspire from him a rare smile. Thoughts of her haunted him every spare moment; her smile, her easy movements and grace, the intensity of her glare as she trained, sweat flying from her like sparkling rain as she somehow managed to turn the most mundane weapon _kata_ into a seductive dance that stole his breath and left him paralyzed. Unbidden, the memory of the two of them together in Kumogakure sprang into his mind; he'd come so close to kissing her that night, but he'd been too much of a coward.

And then he'd almost lost her even as she'd saved him- lost her to the demons of her own mind. He would take it upon himself to help her, no matter what. To him, she and Lee, his comrades, were the most important people in the world. Maybe someday she'd realize that.

His feet carried him into the kitchen, where he leaned against the wall and just watched her bustle back and forth, carrying bowls and plates, flour coating her clothes already. "Need help?" he asked dryly.

She flipped a cooking spoon over in her fingers and whipped it through the air at him like a _kunai_, forcing him to catch the hurled utensil (or possibly be impaled). "What do you think?"

"Do you want an honest answer?"

An hour later, after all the fuss, she ended up using a only third of the dishes and less than half of the ingredients she'd taken out of the cupboards (most of the ingredients actually ended up smeared on her clothes from unwillingness to dirty the sink). All she ended up actually cooking was some kind of dark sauce with vegetables to be poured over (instant) rice and something else that she wouldn't let him stay in the kitchen for; all he knew was it involved the oven, because he could feel the faulty appliance's heat warming the entire kitchen.

She waited for him to snap his chopsticks and was just about to put it in his mouth when she blurted, "Careful, it's spicy."

Neji froze, face paling as he stared at her in disbelief.

"Just kidding!" She stuck her tongue out at him and grinned, resting her elbows on the table and leaning in across the table. "Come on, try it!"

Suspiciously, he didn't take his eyes off her as he warily placed it in his mouth.

"It's good, right?"

"It's different," he hedged, cautiously taking another bite. (Okay, it's not spicy; it's kind of sweet...)

She frowned and stared at her own plate. "I had to modify the recipe because there wasn't anything fresh... and because you won't eat spicy foods."

"No, it's good," he hastened to reassure her. "Aren't you going to eat?"

All her earlier enthusiasm seemed to have drained away; she barely picked at the rice, pushing it around her plate. "Neji..." she said finally as he finished eating, setting her chopsticks on the plate and making a show of wiping her hands with the napkin. The fading rays of the sun's red glow shone diffusely through the curtain, the electric light in the ceiling seeming to grow brighter in comparison. "You're afraid of me too, aren't you?"

"Huh?" The chopsticks almost slipped from his fingers as he looked at her across the table. "What are you talking about?"

"Everyone at the hospital... they all think I'm going to freak out and go on a killing spree like I did in Kumogakure."

Silently, Neji stood with his plate in hand and walked across the kitchen to put it in the sink. "Are you going to eat any of that?" he asked, coming back to the table and taking, instead of the chair across from her, the one on the side of the table next to hers.

She shook her head and didn't meet his eyes as he took it from her and started to eat it. "This is good," he mentioned between mouthfuls. "I need you to cook for me more often." If he pretended not to feel the tension in the room, it would diminish. "Here, you didn't have any." He scooped up some of the now slightly-soggy rice with her chopsticks and offered it to her. "Try it."

"You're afraid I'm going to break. That's why you want me to stay here instead of going home by myself." The downward tilt of her head cast her face in shadow, rendering her expression unreadable.

Neji set the chopsticks down with a clack and simply asked, "Are you?"

Her voice was little more than a whisper. "I don't know." A single tear glinted in the white light, carving a path down her face as she turned away. "I don't know anything anymore."

"Look at me." His leg bumped the table and knocked the chopsticks off the plate with a clatter as he lunged to his feet and leaned across the table, forcing Tenten to turn and meet his eyes. "If it weren't for you, I would be dead," he said bluntly. "Or worse, an experiment for the Kumo ninja."

Her mouth opened as if to speak, but he didn't give her the opportunity. "We're _shinobi_, Tenten," he stated, pearl eyes boring into her wide brown orbs. "Being a ninja sometimes requires horrible acts that civilians can't understand; hell, sometimes _we_ can't understand it! Let them look at you however they want, let them think whatever they want," his voice softened, and he reached to gently brush away her tear, "but you can't fool my eyes."

Mouth open, eyes wide, she said nothing. Suddenly, Neji's heart was in his throat and he couldn't breathe; he'd been inching closer as he spoke, and only now did he realize just how close they were; from the look on her face, she'd realized it too. His hand trembled slightly against her soft skin, heart pounding. The warmth of her breath tickled his face and accelerated his heartbeat even more until his lips parted, and he leaned in-

_BEEP!!_

Both flinched and looked at the oven. "That's dessert," Tenten whispered, drawing away and unsteadily rising to her feet.

The last remnants of the sunset had long since faded. Neji's fist clenched, and he didn't move. He was going crazy from the heat that had nothing to do with the oven's poor insulation, sweat trickling down his neck and slicking his palms. Spinning on his heel, he blurted, "Tenten-!"

A delicious aroma smacked his nose. "Here." Without meeting his eyes, Tenten offered him a chocolate-chip cookie on a napkin.

It was all he could do to keep from smacking it from her hands. What had just happened? Anything? Nothing?

Instead, he just took the proffered napkin and broke off a corner. "You need to eat that," he gestured to her abandoned dish of rice. Somehow, his own voice was steady in contrast to his roiling emotions. "Or else the people at the hospital will think I'm not taking proper care of you."

"Let them think that," she threw his own words back at him, scraping another cookie from the pan. Still, she didn't look at him. "Sorry."

"For what?" Crossing the kitchen, he stood next to her, resting his elbows on the counter and gazed up at her.

Tenten shrugged and looked away. "I'm afraid of myself," she whispered.

"Tenten..." Crumbs of forgotten cookie crumbled in his hand as he took her shoulder, forcing her to look at him. "I'm going to ask you something. You don't have to answer." A pause while he waited to make sure he had her full attention. "Why did you do it? In Kumogakure?"

Her lips pursed shut, and she turned her back on him. Tenten's fists clenched, and then in an explosion of emotion, she turned again. "Because they took you away from me!"

Her cry shivered the kitchen, and she bit her lip, yanking her eyes from his so he wouldn't see her tears. "I thought you were dead, and I was so _angry_... I hacked her to _pieces_, Neji! She'd been dead for at least a minute, and I kept stabbing and stabbing and stabbing and _there was so much blood_." Tenten took a deep breath in, eyes glimmering with unshed tears. "And you know what? _I didn't care_. I would have gone on killing and killing until I saw you again and _I cut his finger off, Neji!!_ And I _enjoyed it_."

She wrapped her arms and hugged herself, shivering, tears pouring down her face unchecked, unable to look at him. "And then I saw you, and I woke up and I realized what had happened and _I don't want to be that kind of person, Neji and I don't want to lose you again._"

Neji rocked back on his heels, stunned. For him? She'd surrendered everything she was because of him? "Tenten..." Could it be she felt like...? He took a step forward and grasped one of her hands, pulling her to him. Tenten melted into him, tears soaking into his shirt as she sobbed, pouring all her terror and anguish into him. "Go ahead and cry," he murmured into her hair, wrapping his arms around her to crush him tighter. "Cry all you want. I'm here."

"Sorry," she kept repeating, voice thick with tears. "I'm sorry." Tenten tensed against him and drew back a little, wriggling her hand up between them to rub her eyes. "I'm sorry. I don't know what-"

A soft gasp burst from her lips as Neji, heart pounding with nervous anticipation, lightly kissed her forehead. "Don't worry," he murmured, his pearl-hued eyes reflecting his intensity as he stared into her confused and tear-stricken eyes. The heat in the kitchen was unbearable, the oven's warmth only magnifying the atmosphere between them.

He could feel her muscles tensed with shock and knew his own grip around her waist and shoulders had tightened as well, and for a moment they just looked at each other, faces flushed, twin hearts beating with anticipation and fear and nerves and-

Reluctantly, he released her from his arms and took a step back to give her some space. "You'll feel better if you shower and get some sleep," he said finally, turning away with an air of indifference his only defense against the raw emotion threatening to spill over. (Normalcy, normalcy...)

"But I have to clean the kitchen; I made a mess," her voice was hoarse and uncertain, her words punctuated by a sniff as she held back her tears. (Nothing happened- normalcy, normalcy...)

He smiled again, though she couldn't see it. "I'll do it," he promised. "Go ahead, but keep in mind that you've already made a mess of one room in this house; don't mess up the bathroom, too."

"As long as you don't use _Byakugan_ to peek," Tenten retorted with surprising ease, padding from the kitchen to rustle through her bag in the living room, rummaging for shampoo and pajamas. "Don't think I won't know." As well as he knew her, Neji could hear from her voice the lightness as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, like she had been before the mission to _Kumogakure_.

Neji snorted and said nothing, knowing too well from prior experience that any answer to that statement was the wrong one. If he promised not to, she'd be offended that she wasn't pretty enough to merit it (she was), but if he said he would, she'd be offended that he was such a pervert (he wasn't). Listening to the water hiss on in his bathroom, he sighed and closed his eyes, leaning against the sink. It had been a crazy afternoon, but he wouldn't change anything about it.

Well, no, that was a lie. The damn oven timer would have waited another thirty seconds before going off; that's what he would change. Morosely, he took a bite of that cookie still in his hand, letting the gooey chocolate chips melt in his mouth. "She's right," he said to himself, regarding the sugary treat in his hand. "She is a better cook than I am."

Was it resolved, this horrible business that had started in the Land of Lightning? Was it finally over? But what was she thinking now? He feared that for that brief moment, his own feelings had been revealed that left him terrified but strangely free. Absently, Neji slipped a hand in his pocket, running his fingers over the smooth, polished surface of the diamond that had been formed from his father's ashes and carefully took it out, placing it gently beside the window. What would happen would happen.

Finishing in the kitchen, he left the cleaned dishes in the sink to dry and turned the light off, making his way down the hall to his room to change into his own pajamas. The urge to activate _Byakugan_ was almost overwhelming (damn you, teenage hormones!), but he shook his head, cursing his sense of honor, and changed into his black shorts, careful to keep his back to the bathroom door. He paused with one hand on his forehead protector then pulled it off, leaving the green brand of his Cursed Mark plainly visible as he switched on the lamp on the desk in the corner.

"Neji," he heard her voice through the door. "Are you... disappointed in how weak I am?"

"Huh?" He sat on the edge of his bed in the center of the floor, keeping his back to the door. "What are you talking about?"

The water shut off, and he heard her pulling a towel from the rack. "_Shinobi_ are not to show emotion, remember?"

Neji paused and leaned back to stare at the ceiling. "I used to think that for a long time," he admitted, studying the familiar pattern of whirls in the wood above, "but not any more. Not since I fought Uzumaki Naruto in the _Chuunin_ Exams."

"Oh?" The slipping on of cloth.

"From his emotions, he gained strength." Shrugging against the blankets, Neji closed his eyes again, imagining that battle. "Naruto saved me from darkness."

The bathroom door creaked a little and a triangle of light shone across his face; that's the only way he knew that she'd exited the bathroom, so silent were her bare footsteps on the wood. He opened his eyes and tilted his head back, then blinked, breath caught somewhere in his throat.

Standing with her arms crossed over her breasts, clad only in the short white silk dress she wore as pajamas, Tenten blushed and looked away. "It's all I had packed," she muttered self-consciously. Her wet hair dripped down her bare arms and soaked into the already clinging thin fabric.

"Tenten..." For one of the few times in his life, Neji was completely speechless, rolling over on his stomach, heart racing at the mere sight of her.

"What?"

He shook his head. "You look... amazing," was the most coherent thought to emerge, voice hoarse.

"Well, thanks- you don't look half-bad yourself except for the bandages you have to change." With just a grin, Tenten was able to diffuse the situation of its awkwardness; though her gaze kept flicking up to the bare skin of his forehead and the Cursed Mark, she dismissed it. "I'd laugh at the so-called genius if his arm got infected, because then he'd have to go crawling back to the hospital after chewing out all the doctors and nurses."

"Fine, fine," he sighed, but couldn't help agreeing. "You're right, of course."

"I'll help," she offered with a grin, and Neji somehow felt like she knew exactly the effect she had on him and knew that he was in no position to refuse anything from her. "Come on, where do you keep the bandages?"

Neji forced himself to roll over and climb to his feet. His heart still pounding as if he'd been running for kilometers, he accepted her offered hand and managed to contain his sharp inhalation at the shock that jolted him down to his toes as she pulled him up; too hard, too hard, he was going to fall into-

"Come on." (She can't be doing that by accident...) Tenten released his hand with a quick grin and stepped back so he had to catch himself. "Where are they?"

"I can dress my own wounds." Some semblance of pride had to be clung to, didn't it? Was there really any point in bothering anymore?

"Mm-hm..." Without even looking, he knew one of her eyebrows was raised doubtfully, but she didn't contradict him. Neji shook his head (at what?) and made his way into the bathroom, feet smarting at the sudden chill of the marble tile compared to the residual steam from the shower.

Neji grabbed a towel and wiped the condensation from the mirror. "Don't make a mess in my bathroom."

"Sorry, sorry," she unapologetically replied. He saw her grin in the mirror as he cleaned it (wow, it's like having _Byakugan_ activated, isn't it?!) and sighed. "So where are-"

"In the closet in front of you," he cut her off. "There should be disinfectant..."

Bottles and toothbrushes and various other bathroom items crashed into each other as Tenten undelicately rummaged through the closet.

"Stop," he sighed and turned, reaching over her and grabbing her hands, feeling her wet hair slap against his bare chest. "Right there." He released her arms and stood on tiptoes over her head to snatch a roll of bandage and a brown plastic bottle, both of which were promptly seized from his grip as she spun to face him, pushing him back to the counter behind him.

"Where's the... never mind." Using her foot, Tenten scooped up the empty garbage can and slid it close to them. Delicate fingers untied the knot of cloth around his right arm and slowly began unraveling the bandage, letting it fall into the garbage can. "What do you want to do next?"

"Doesn't matter." He fought to control his breathing as her fingertips brushed the soft skin of his forearm. "You just left the hospital today, so I think any kind of training is out for a while."

"Is that all you can think about?" Tenten quirked an eyebrow with a grin. "There are other things besides training." In one deft motion she uncapped the bottle of disinfectant and poured it over the four jagged slashes.

Neji hissed as the clear liquid bubbled in the wounds. "A warning would be nice," he muttered through gritted teeth.

"Then you'd know the pain was coming. This way is better." She spun and stretched up on one foot to set the bottle precariously back on the top shelf, the toned muscles of her legs plainly visible beneath the hem of her dress. "Put that down."

He froze and returned the bandage roll to the counter. "Tenten-"

"I can do it better," now she cut him off, turning back around with a mock glare. More seriously, she added, "You've helped me a lot, Neji. Let me do something in return for you."

"Suit yourself." His heartbeat had just begun to return to normal when she stepped closer to him.

"Give me your arm."

Wordlessly, he extended the limb, the soft smell of her chocolate shampoo wafting up to tickle his nose. He barely felt the scrape of the bandage against his wounds as she wrapped it tightly but gently around his arm, tying off the end by wrapping it through the previous loop. She glanced up as she finished, and his breath caught in his throat again. "Thank you," he whispered as she dropped his hand but didn't move away. Swallowing hard, he fought to keep his breath steady as she closed the centimeters' gap between them with an easy grace.

"I told you I could do a better job than you," she responded quietly with a quick grin. So swift that he almost missed it, she jumped up on tiptoes and kissed the green brand on his forehead, then turned to head back into the main room.

"Wha-?" His skin ignited with a delicious tingling burn as he gasped. "Tenten!" He shot out his hand and grabbed hers, spinning her around and yanking her back purely on reflexive impulse.

Her feet skidded on the slick marble, and with an abbreviated outcry she slipped, barely catching herself with her palms slamming hard against the edge of the counter on either side of him. They stood stock still, Tenten leaning over him, frozen in place. Wide brown eyes darted over his face, dark with some emotion he couldn't recognize. "Neji," she whispered, face flushing as she stared at him with those wide eyes.

"What?" he whispered back, heart pounding in his throat as if it would tear itself free and fly from his chest. He couldn't blame the oven for the rising heat this time as she slowly relaxed her hold on the counter and simply melted into his grip, which during her fall had somehow landed on her hips; he could feel every curve of her body pressing into his through her thin silk shift.

She laughed a little, breath caressing his face with a tiny puff of warm air as her nose brushed his. "You are an idiot," Tenten whispered, closing her eyes and tilting her face up toward him, slowly, slowly. "But for some reason, in spite of that... I think I really..."

And he let his own eyes flutter shut, holding his breath, sweating from anticipation, feeling her tense against him. Neji leaned into her and felt his lips part as if of their own will, expecting something to interrupt them again as he felt her breathing accelerate in response to his own until finally, finally, their lips met and she kissed him, soft lips gently brushing his. Inhaling sharply through his nose, his fingertips pressed into her hips and he leaned in further, making this kiss _his_ and realizing too late that he had overbalanced as he forced her back, stumbling into the closed closet door behind them.

Tenten broke the kiss with a startled gasp as her back hit the wall, face flushed and eyes wide, panting for breath as Neji ran his hand up her side and tangled his fingers in her hair to kiss her again, heart soaring as she returned the kiss with equal passion and intensity, letting him know in no uncertain terms she would not be the weak one. Sweat plastered her clothes to her body as she finally broke away to breathe, gasping as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Did you ever think..." she said finally, "that you would be kissing me in your bathroom?"

Neji laughed quietly and smoothed her hair away from her face. "No, I can honestly say now that of all the places I had pictured kissing you, my bathroom was not one of them."

"Me either." Tenten turned her head on his shoulder to smile up at him. "I've never heard you laugh before. You should do it more often."

"Hmph."

"That's more like the Neji I know!" She laughed and ran her fingers up his bare chest. "This is probably what people are going to think is going on while I'm staying here."

He hissed through his teeth as her touch sent shuddering tingles through his body. "I already said I don't care."

Her fingers traced up to his neck as he stared into her brown eyes. "You live with a bunch of people whose specialty is seeing through walls."

"I don't care." His voice grew husky as he leaned in to her touch, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

"Gai-_sensei_ will be insufferable..." she trailed off as his nose brushed hers and closed her eyes.

Neji kissed her again, gently this time. "I don't care."

Her hand fumbled blindly behind her until it finally slapped the switch, the lights extinguishing swiftly.

"What are you doing? I can't see-"

He felt her hand cover his mouth and felt her warm breath caress his neck. "I don't care," she whispered, grabbing his hand and leading him back into his bedroom. Letting her fingers slip free, she padded over to the lamp and flicked it off, plunging the room into darkness and illuminated by only the faint waning moon streaming through the curtains. "And Neji?"

"What?" Hearing her near-silent footsteps rustle the covers on his bed, he sat down and leaned toward where he heard her, heart pounding in the stillness.

Her lips brushed his ear, and she whispered, "Thank you."

"For what?" he murmured back, turning to see the moon mirrored in her eyes as she smiled.

"You saved me from myself." Tickling his face, her warm breath spread goose bumps over his skin. "But if you get captured again, I'll kill you myself."

The mission in the Land of Lightning had changed them both for the rest of their lives, there was no doubting that. But maybe, Neji reflected as he brushed her loose damp hair away from her face, not all of the change had been for the worse. Maybe, just maybe, it had awakened something new for both of them, and that would be enough to banish that land's demons for them forever.

._end_.

**A/N: Reviews with constructive criticism would be welcomed, flames would be fun, and just regular old reviews would be deeply appreciated... I may possibly write another one of these mini-quels for fun eventually, but for now I'd like to dedicate my time and energy to my latest work _Itsuka_, which hopefully will be showing up here soon. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you again in my future works!**


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